You Can't Hide (57 page)

“She finally got her byline,” Tess murmured. “Carmichael, that is.”

“At a price,” Aidan returned quietly. “Are you all right?”

Yes,
she started to answer, then stared at the front page. “No. I’m not.”

“How’s your father, Tess?” Murphy asked.

“Stable.” She managed a ghost of a smile. “Crotchety. He wants to go home.” Her smile faded.

“He wants me to go with him.”

Something flashed in Aidan’s eyes, but he just smiled. “We’l talk about that when everything’s settled down. Have you eaten?”

“Your mother made me.” Tess had woken to the smell of eggs and bacon and the easy smile of Becca Reagan, which seemed to take the edge off the worst of situations. Tess had spent the evening before in the hospital where she was examined and released quickly. Her father had been admitted, of course. Vito and her mother still sat by his side. But her father had insisted she go home. Get some sleep. Home was Aidan’s house.

“What did you find out last night?”

“That everything in Carmichael’s article is true. And more.”

“She set up innocent men,” Patrick said harshly. “A few I prosecuted. If the police got too close to one of the family’s crimes, the family brought her in. She’d set up a scapegoat, arrange for the evidence to be found. And ‘defend’ the poor bastard so that he never had a chance at justice.” He clenched his jaw, contempt in his eyes. “And I never suspected a thing. Neither did Kristen. Before we worried about appeals because of you. Now we’re dealing with possible reversals of every case she defended.”

“Ironic,” Tess murmured.

“Nicole Rivera’s brother was one of those innocent men,” Aidan said. “She chose the boy because she believed Rivera was the best choice to imitate you. She set Miguel Rivera up for murder, then extorted his sister.”

“The boy is free?” Tess asked.

Aidan nodded. “Last night.”

“But his sister is dead,” Murphy said flatly. “He has no one.”

“Because Amy killed her.” Tess closed her eyes. “And all those other people. And I still don’t know why, other than that she hated me.” The silence around the table was uncomfortable and awkward. Tess looked at their faces. “Tell me. Now.”

“It was Jim Swanson, Tess,” Aidan said gently. “She was obsessed with him.”

“But he wanted me.” She frowned. “He left three months ago for Africa. Is that what triggered all of this?” Aidan’s eyes flickered and Tess knew. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”

214

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

“I’m sorry, Tess. Swanson never showed up at the clinic in Chad. We found his things in Amy’s closet, a knife with dried blood of his type. She must have killed him in a rage. Then blamed you.”

“She’s hated me, all these years.” Her mouth twisted bitterly. “Hell of a shrink I turned out to be. A killer at my front door and I never knew.”

“Her mother was schizophrenic, Tess,” Murphy said. “Your mom can tell you more, but it looks like Amy’s been on the edge for years. Just smart enough to hide it from everyone. Including you.”

“It’s just been recently that her sanity started to slip beyond her grasp.” Aidan squeezed her hand. “She couldn’t hide it anymore.”

“My mother knew?” Tess fought to swallow. “She knew?”

“She knew Amy’s mother was sick, Tess. She had no idea Amy was, too.”

Stiffly Tess nodded. “It doesn’t matter. She poisoned me, you know. In my soup.”

From across the table Jack grimaced. “The mushrooms? Julia thought as much.”

“And she slept with Phillip.”

“We figured that,” Murphy said.

Tess nodded again, rol ing the mental tape of the night before in her mind. “And she killed her father.” But to her surprise, no one looked shocked. “You knew this, too?”

“Vito suspected. Apparently a neighborhood boy was charged.”

“Leon Vanneti.” Tess frowned. “He was innocent, like Vito said. But it’s just my word. There’s still no proof.” Her eyes widened. “She said Leon raped her. They didn’t do DNA then, but if they still have evidence maybe they can clear him now.”

“I’l make the calls this morning,” Spinnelli promised. “At least we can set one thing right.”

Tess sighed. “She killed Eleanor, too.”

This raised a few eyebrows. “Really?” Murphy asked. “How did she do that?”

“She injected her with air. Because Eleanor had been kind to me.”

Spinnelli cleared his throat. “We do have some good news for you, Tess. Rick?”

“We found Bacon’s original files in the apartment last night,” Rick said. “Along with the one CD labeled with your name. Lynne Pope was able to identify it as the label she saw the day Bacon tried to sell it to her. So at least all the copies are accounted for.”

Relief nearly made her head swim. “I didn’t want to be so worried, but I was.”

Spinnelli patted her shoulder. “Well, you don’t have to be.”

“Do you know why Amy wanted Bacon’s files so badly?”

“I’ve had a policewoman viewing the footage since we got the CDs from Bacon’s storage locker. She saw Amy taking bottles from your medicine cabinet.”

“The bottles she planted in Cynthia’s apartment.”

Aidan shrugged. “It seems like a small thing for her to worry about, but I suppose she was worried Bacon would blackmail her since he was blackmailing you.”

“That about wraps it up,” Spinnelli said, “unless you have any other questions.”

Tess looked at the newspaper again, her eyes skittering from the photo of herself dangling from the balcony. “I would like to know how Carmichael discovered all this.”

Aidan held out his hand. “Let’s pay her a visit, then I’l take you to see your father.”

Aidan buckled her seat belt. She sat quietly, her hands folded in her lap, her face pale with the frail, vulnerable look of a traumatized child. He didn’t speak until they were well away from the police station. “You should be home in bed.”

“I couldn’t sleep, Aidan.”

He knew that. She’d lain beside him during the night, her body stiff and frozen, tears seeping from her eyes until he’d finally given them both what they needed. She’d responded with a ferocity that still left his skin tingling from head to toe. God help him, he wanted to feel that same way again. Right now. Instead, he kept his voice gentle. “You could have taken one of the sleeping pills Jon prescribed.”

215

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

“After yesterday I think I’ve had enough tranquilizers for my lifetime.” Her smile was strained. “But thank you. I’l be all right, Aidan. It will just take some time.”

“I’ve got time, Tess.”

Her serious eyes were like a punch to his overactive system. “Good.”

“I have one other piece of good news. Do you remember that friend of Danny Morris’s father?”

“The one you hurt your hand trying to arrest?”

“Yeah. I stopped by his apartment on my way into work this morning. Guess who was sleeping it off on the couch?”

Her eyes narrowed in satisfaction. “You arrested the father.”

“He was trying to get away, but he was too disoriented to do anything but stagger. He’l be charged with murder.”

Her nod was sober. “Good.” Then she looked away, and he thought he understood how she felt when he’d closed himself to her.

“Tess, talk to me. Tell me what’s bothering you.” He pul ed the car into an empty parking lot and hooked a finger under her chin. Her throat worked as she fought to control the tears, but still they rol ed down her face. “Please talk to me.”

“I would have killed her, Aidan. She was like my sister and I would have killed her.”

He narrowed his eyes. “She deserved to die, Tess. She killed so many.”

“She was sick.” She swal owed hard. “And I never helped her.”

He sighed. After everything, he was a cop. And she was a doctor. “You know what I realized yesterday afternoon, standing in her apartment? That one of the things I’d been afraid of was that you would worm your way into my mind, take away my privacy. Then I realized that you don’t do that with the people you care about the most. It left you vulnerable with Amy, with Phillip. But it puts you on equal footing with me.”

She blinked at him. “So I’m inept with my loved ones… which is good.”

He ran his tongue over his teeth. “Essentially, yes.”

Her lips curved. “That’s so sweet.” She wiped at her eyes. “I’m a mess.”

“You’re beautiful. Tess, the night before last, I asked you what you wanted. You said it was what you’d always wanted. Somebody to love you.”

She lifted her chin. “And you said it didn’t scare you away.”

“It didn’t. It doesn’t. You never asked me what I wanted that night.”

She bit her lower lip. “So? What do you want, Aidan?”

He hesitated, self-conscious. “I always wanted a woman like my mom.”

She smiled. “Somebody to cook for you?”

“There is that. But more of what she’s been to my dad all these years. He’d come home, tired and worn and upset over something that had happened on his shift. And she’d be there. She’d always… just be there. And she loves him for who he is.”

“I can see that. She’s a good person, Aidan.”

“So are you, Tess.” He took her hand, pressed it against his lips. “I think I was afraid that you would do more than just be there. That you’d analyze and judge and maybe tell me I was crazy, because sometimes that’s how I feel.”

“I wouldn’t do that.” Her mouth quirked up. “Apparently, I’m inept.”

“Only in that. In everything else, you’re quite the expert. Let’s talk to Carmichael.”

Saturday, March 18, 9:45 A.M.

Carmichael was standing on the curb outside her apartment, a suitcase in her hand. She was pale, dark circles shadowing her eyes. She didn’t look happy to see them.

“Miss Carmichael?” Tess said. “I was so sorry to hear about your friend.”

Joanna eyed her head to toe, speculative, yet detached. “I should say the same.”

But she didn’t, Tess realized. “I’d like to speak with you.”

216

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

She looked down the street. “I’m going to the airport. I have only a few minutes.”

Tess nodded. “That should be enough. I want to know how you discovered Amy Miller had been working for organized crime families.”

A mirthless smile bent Joanna’s mouth. “It real y wasn’t that difficult. I was looking for dirt. I found it. Your friend Jon’s story was little, but your friend Amy’s… Real big. I knew she hung with the doctors that met at the Blue Lemon every second Sunday and I wondered why all those doctors and one lone lawyer. That’s when I found she’d gone to med school in Kentucky while you were in med school here in Chicago.”

“We couldn’t get into the same school,” Tess told Aidan. “She dropped out because she couldn’t stand the cadaver dissections. Ironic, isn’t it?”

“She didn’t drop out, Dr. Ciccotelli. She was expelled, or she would have been if she hadn’t managed to get some incriminating photos with one of her professors.”

Tess blinked. “She was nothing if not predictable.”

“I tracked down one of her old roommates through the dean’s secretary at the med school. Apparently she hadn’t liked Miller and had no hesitation in pointing me in the right direction. I caught up with Kelsey Chin, who is now a doctor in Lexington. She told me about the expulsion and the pictures. She said that Miller had tried to enlist her help in taking the photos, then went to their other roommate when she said no.”

“So how did you find out about the organized crime?” Aidan asked impatiently.

“I wondered at the ethics of someone who could do such a thing. Plus, she lost a lot of cases, yet still she had the money for clothes and cruises.”

“Actually, I paid for the cruise,” Tess said.

Joanna’s smile was bitter. “Then I guess I just lucked out, because that made me check her client list. From there it was just connecting the dots.” A cab stopped at the curb. “And now I’ve got to go. I’m flying home to bury Keith.”

“And then?” Tess asked.

“I’l be back.” Her bitter smile twisted. “I got a promotion. Big raise. I’ve learned to be careful what I wish for.” She got into the cab without a backward glance. The cab disappeared around the corner. “I don’t know if I feel sorry for her, Aidan.”

He put her back in his car. “She’s got to live with what she’s done. She pul ed the tiger’s tail and her boyfriend paid the ultimate price.” He climbed in beside her and squeezed her hand.

“There was nothing you could have done, Tess.”

Tess drew a shaky breath. “I know. And maybe that’s the hardest part to face.”

“Look… I know this cop who has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and whose couch is available for a moderate fee.”

Tess laughed and it felt good. “Moderate?”

“Oh, all right. I’l give you my advice on the barter system.”

“What barter did you have in mind?”

He pul ed away from the curb. “If you have to ask, you’re not as smart as I thought.”

“I did say I wasn’t a mind reader, Detective.”

He grinned. “So you did. I guess I’l just have to spell it out for you later. For now, I’l take you to your father. He’l be waiting for you.”

Philadelphia, Saturday, October 28, 7:25 P.M.

He’s having a good time,” Tess said, a catch in her voice. Michael Ciccotelli was dancing with his wife, who for once wasn’t telling him not to overdo it. Tess’s wedding day was a day to be overdone, everyone living it as if it might be the last time the

217

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

Ciccotelli family gathered together. It was bittersweet, but Tess had come to peace with her father’s condition even as they all hoped for a donor.

Aidan stood behind her, his arms around her waist, his feet completely covered by the sixfoot train of her grandmother’s satin gown. “Yes, he is. Are you?”

She shivered as he brushed kisses against her bare neck. “It’s getting better.”

“I can guarantee it will get better tomorrow.” They’d rejected a cruise as too “Phillip” and a European vacation as too “Shelley” for their honeymoon, opting to spend a week at the Jersey shore. Then they’d return to Chicago for a party at the Lemon with all their friends, although most of them were right here with them now. Aidan’s family was here, Rachel and Kristen as bridesmaids. Abe was his best man and even Murphy had agreed to don a tux as an usher. Vito looked right at home in his tux, and at the moment was trying to fend off a determined young woman. As Tess always said, all the girls flirted with Vito. At Vito’s side was his friend Leon who had been released months before after DNA testing proved he had not raped Amy Miller. With Tess’s testimony and Amy’s mental illness, Leon’s entire conviction had been overturned. It was good to see justice prevail. Jack and Julia were here, as were Robin and Jon and Patrick and Flo Ernst and Ethel Hughes, and even Lynne Pope who planned to show a clip of the wedding on
Chicago On The Town
. Closure, she’d said. Which of course it was.